A battery, e.g., a Li-Ion battery can include multiple cells connected in parallel and/or in series. In a multi-cell battery pack, cells may differ from each other due to cell aging and/or different cell temperatures. A voltage difference among the cells may increase as the number of charging/discharging cycles increases, which may cause imbalance between the cells and may shorten a battery life.
Traditional cell balancing methods include discharging cells having relatively high cell voltages by connecting external loads (e.g., resistors) in parallel to the cells. However, such traditional cell balancing methods may induce considerable thermal energy dissipation, e.g., in electric vehicle (EV) applications.